Israel, Hamas ignore U.N. call

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli jets and ground troops hammered at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, and Islamic militants fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities Friday, ignoring a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire after two weeks of combat.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said the U.N. action was not practical, and senior Cabinet ministers decided to press on with the offensive. Israel will stop only when it succeeds in ending rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled territory, the government said.

Hopes that Thursday night’s U.N. Security Council resolution would end Gaza’s worst fighting in decades were further tempered by dismissive remarks from Hamas, angry that it was not consulted during exhaustive diplomatic efforts at the world body.

The foreign minister for the Palestinian Authority, which was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, criticized both Israel and Hamas for not accepting the demand for a halt to fighting.

“Both have responded to the resolution in the same way, in total disrespect,” Riad Malki said at U.N. headquarters in New York. He said the Security Council should enforce its resolution, perhaps by levying sanctions.

Israel launched a heavy air bombardment Dec. 27 in response to intensified rocket fire that has disrupted life in southern Israel. A week later, ground troops moved in, with artillery and tank fire that has contributed to a surge in civilian casualties that continued Friday on Gaza’s ruined streets.

Seven members of the Salha family were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their house overnight, militants said. On Friday, crowds in neat rows bowed in prayer in front of their bodies, wrapped in funeral shrouds and flags.

Such scenes have triggered anger throughout the Islamic world and elsewhere. There have been daily protests in the Middle East and in Europe, where there also has been a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it is difficult to protect civilians in a place as densely populated as Gaza.

“It’s also an area in which Hamas participates in activities like human shields and using buildings that are not designated as military buildings to hide their fighters,” she told reporters. “So it’s hard.”

In Geneva, the top U.N. human rights official called for an independent investigation of possible war crimes in Gaza for an incident in which Palestinians said Israeli forces shelled a house, killing 30 people. Israel’s military said it was not aware of the specific incident but that it would not have deliberately targeted the building.

By Friday evening, more than 20 Palestinians had been reported killed during the day, pushing the death toll for the two-week conflict to around 780, according to Gaza health officials who said at least half of those killed were civilians.

Thirteen Israelis have been killed — four of them by militant rockets, the rest in battle in Gaza.

Early this morning, Gaza residents said warplanes attacked unoccupied buildings and sites in the southern town of Khan Younis, in Beit Lahiya, and around Gaza City. Flames and smoke could be seen rising into the sky, but there were no reports of casualties.